VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.—GOP challenger state Sen. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia Beach) defeated two-term Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), settling one of the most competitive House races.
According to the Associated Press, Kiggans collected 52.1 percent, 149,759 votes, to Luria’s 49.7 percent, 137,841 votes, with 98 percent reporting as of 11:25 p.m. ET, to win the seat.
Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District—covering Virginia Beach and nearby localities—has an outsized military presence, with the world’s largest naval base Norfolk Naval Station located in its neighboring 3rd Congressional District.
“We’re here to celebrate a renewed commitment to restore American strength in our economy, at our borders, in our community, and on the world stage,” said Kiggans at her election night watch party in Virginia Beach.
She thanked her family, her team, and her opponent, “Although we may differ in our political ideologies, we certainly share a love for our Navy, and a love for our country.”
“Thank you for all of your years of public service,” Kiggans added.
Kiggans ran her campaign based on “restoring American strength” in the economy, at the border, in communities, in law enforcement, and in the military.
The night before, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) joined Kiggans’s final rally in Virginia Beach. “This is the number one race I’m going to watch tomorrow night. Because when Jen wins, we win the majority,” he told a crowd of a few hundred.
The Luria-Kiggans race was the first head-to-head congressional race between two women combat veterans in the nation’s history.
Kiggans, elected to the state senate in 2019, had served 10 years as a Navy submarine-hunting helicopter pilot during combat deployments. Luria, a nuclear engineer who spent 20 years in the Navy, retiring as a commander, was a combat specialist during Iraq and Afghanistan war deployments.
“[Kiggans and Luria] both have the military experience credentials. So that’s neutralized in the strong military area. Then it gets out to who’s going to be tough on criminals, who’s going to control the border, who’s going to do something to reduce these high prices that are affecting our families,” former Republican Virginia Gov. George Allen, a resident in the 2nd Congressional District, told The Epoch Times.
“And Jen Kiggans is much better [in those regards]. Obviously, Luria and the Democrats have had their chance. They have failed, and people have seen the diminishment of their spending power.”
He added: “What the Republicans need to do, when they have the honor and responsibility of serving, is to start getting things going in the right direction.
“They can’t blame the other side anymore. Now, if Biden wants to veto things, let him veto but pass them [the bills], do positive, constructive things to get our country going in the right track.”
The former governor said that, “People want to see constructive alternatives or constructive proposals and initiatives.”
“I think the Republicans have no excuse for not acting.”
Luria, in her concession speech, told her supporters that the success of the 2nd Congressional District would depend on her opponent’s success: “I just got off the phone; I called to congratulate Jen Kiggans on a hard-fought race to wish her the best.”
Luria played an active, visible role on the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack and made the “danger to democracy” allegedly posed by Trump-supporting Republicans a key campaign theme.
She did not back down from that messaging even after polls showed voters in Virginia and elsewhere were overwhelmingly more concerned about the economy, especially with inflation spiking to a 40-year high.
“If standing up for what’s right means losing an election, so be it,” Luria said in a campaign ad released on Nov. 1.
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